Whitepaper Chapter 5 – Wine Coin

5.1 Token

Wine Coin is the token created by Followine for the ICO and based on the ERC-20 technology, the same as Ethereum. Given the requirements, the structure and the causes of use, the Wine Coin can be qualified, to all intents and purposes, as utility token. For this reason, in light of the relative regulations, issued by most of the Countries in the world, it is possible to sell it as a mere IT product.

Chart 5.1

Each company that enters the circuit will determine, based on its turnover, a token release. 25% of the tokens will enter the circuit over the next 10 years, with a ceiling of 2.5% per annum. The decision to provide a ceiling to the number of tokens entered each year derives from our interest in that the Wine Coin is not devalued – as a result of the placing of too many tokens, all together, in the circuit. In this way, since the number of new tokens is very low if compared to the value brought by the companies, there will be an increase in the price of the token itself. In order to maintain this condition, a financial assessment will be carried out, from time to time, in order to protect the value of the token and the investments.

5.2 The decimal case and the scarcity of tokens

Let's start from a question, which perhaps just a few people have asked themselves: do cryptocurrencies represent a limited or scarce resource? The answer is: it depends, because hypothetically most cryptocurrencies have "only" 18 decimals (which in the real world is absolutely unthinkable).

Before making some calculation and understanding what does it mean, we would like to explain what is meant, in economics, by “scarce or limited resource”. The scarcity of a resource is to be referred to the gap between the supply limit and the theoretical demand. In short, a good or an asset, to be defined as limited or scarce, must have a demand that is always higher than the supply.

Having clarified this concept, we can now analyze the issue together, starting with an example:

let's examine the Binance case, to name a famous one, stating that we have nothing against the project: the amount of coin offered is 190,799,315, 00000000000000000000 (therefore 190 million Trillion of Tokens). Since cryptocurrencies do not have a divisibility limit, the least significant figure is represented by the last of the 18 zeros, unlike what happens with normal currencies - which usually have two zeros to represent the hundredth part of the coin itself (0,00 euros - for example).

In a hypothetical case, the maximum demand would therefore be represented by the possibility of buying all the tokens, compared to the quantity of existing coins, considering the least significant figure for BNB (Binance's coin) the last of the 18 zeros "decimals"and, on the other hand, the hundredth part of currencies such as the dollar.

Now, according to data provided by the US Federal Reserve and Money Project, the value of world currencies available to the human population is less than 5 trillion dollars; while the value of the Broad Money - thus considering also the value of all the capital invested and blocked - amounts to 90.4 trillion dollars. It means that the total has 7 "zero" less than the potential value of BNB.

At this point, it is pretty easy to understand that, even by adding the value of all the currencies available on Earth, it is not possible to fill the offer of these tokens: their scarcity can not be a fact, because the offer will be greater than the demand, anyway.

As mentioned before (and we want to underline it again) we have taken as an example an ordinary token, also because until now we have not seen a coin with less than 18 "decimal" zeros yet (and with great surprise we have even found a coin with 24 "decimal" zeros!).

Since no one has ever taken advantage from the presence of these figures so called decimals, we believe in the good faith of all projects, at least about this point of view: in our opinion, they simply adopted the practice of "we take an ERC-20 (or other ERC) as an example and we change the data of our interest", replaying the same mistakes of their predecessor.

Now, however, we hope that our dissertation can open the eyes to all our colleagues - so that they will understand that, if they really want to create something limited and respect the promises made, they should at least burn a lot of zero or convert their crypts. Because burning a few million tokens to increase their price on exchanges does not solve the problem.

WineCoin and 3 Decimals

For the mentioned reason, after studying the industry for three years, we decided to launch a token with only 3 decimal places.

The value of the world wine market, in accordance with the data collected by our company and confirmed by those of statesman.com, has a value of 155 billion dollars with an estimated CAGR of 5.8%. As a consequence, the direct value of the world wine market in the next 10 years will reach the theoretical value of 272 billion dollars.

Given that Wine Coin offer can not exceed the total value of the wine market, we decided to release 250,000,000,000 tokens.

Since the Followine ecosystem does not need microtransactions, thanks to the use of followine points that are converted into Tokens, the theoretical maximum value of Wine Coin is 250 billion dollars (therefore, lower than the value of the whole market and way lower the value of the 5 trillion available to the world population). This makes the Followine Token one of the few and perhaps the only ERC-20 to be really limited.

5.3 ICO/ITO: cos’è?

The ICO (Initial Coin Offering) is a new fundraising model that, as specified in an analysis conducted by The Guardian, is specific to start-ups operating in the blockchain world.

The start-up that launches the fundraising campaign, creates its own cryptocurrency, which is allocated to lenders in order to raise the necessary funds for the development of the project.

The purpose of the Followine ICO is not only to collect capital, but also and most of all to create a functional and inclusive Token that connects all the stakeholders of the wine world and consumers. The main goal is to generate a global network that makes Wine Coin the first circulating token in history. As a consequence, the purchase of Wine Coin will not be a simple investment but will guarantee short and long term benefits to all the members of this circuit.

To be clear, it should be noted that it is correct to talk about ICO when cryptocurrencies are sold to lenders. In the event that the lenders purchase Tokens, the appropriate term is ITO (Initial Token Offering).

The WineCoin, in fact, can be qualified as a token and for this reason we have to say that Followine is going to launch its ITO.

Assuming what we just clarified, since Followine intent is to involve people who are not familiar with the blockchain and crypto world, and because using the term ITO could be confusing for them, it has been preferred to use the acronym ICO, which is certainly better known, in terms of general awareness.

5.4 DAICO: what is it?

Vitalik Buterin, the man who created Ethereum, in 2018 talked about a new method for the decentralized collection of funds, called "DAICO". This involves the merging of the elements of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) and the so-called ICOs, in order to minimize the complexity and risks associated with the second one. As a matter of fact, within the smart contract it is entered the function tap (unit: wei / sec), which determines the amount of funds per second that the development team can request from the contract.

A DAICO contract is published by the development team that wants to raise funds for a project. The DAICO contract begins in "contributory mode", specifying a mechanism by which anyone can contribute. Once the fundraising has been completed, the possibility of contributing to the ETHs is lost and the initial balance of the token is placed; from that moment on, the token can be exchanged.

In his post Buterin admits that, in a certain way, the votes of any kind are subject to manipulation, while the merging of the ICO and DAO schemes could drastically reduce the threat of handling.

If a 51% attack were to increase the "tap" of a DAICO, the developers behind the project would simply be able to limit the "tap" again.

Referring to the developers who "spend the money for buying the Lambo instead of spending them for the real work", Buterin says that investors would be able to collectively refuse to increase the "tap", or even "vote to self-destruct".

Why DAICO?

For the safety of investors and for assuring transparency, which can not be missing in a project like Followine; moreover, for the desire to stay on top of what is current, which represents the guideline of those who want to work in the world of innovative startups.

A DAICO was created to protect investors and, in addition, to create an ICO truly transparent and self-managed by smart contracts, allowing to improve the feasibility and development of the project.

It is in the interests of everyone, both of the team and the investors, to keep the price of the token high and avoid the collapse on the exchanges (dump), especially for a long-term project such as Followine.

For this reason we have included within the smart contract not only the rules for the protection of short-term investments, but also those onces for the protection of long-term investments and the entire project. Obviously, all the rules can be verified on our public smart contract, in full compliance with transparency, and can be discussed in a special section of Bitcointalk.

All the rules included are used to avoid the collapse of the token once listed (unfortunately, something that often happens, due to lack of specific skills or, alternatively, of the good faith within the team). It is pretty clear that Followine is not a project for everyone: the team invites you to invest only if you really want to support the project in the following months.

All what we said without forgetting that, after all, we are talking about business and what matters is to get a profit: what better profit than that resulting from having participated in the creation of a healthy company, which will continue to grow over time and will be able to guarantee, as a natural consequence, an increase of the value of your token?

One thing we would like to emphasize is that if someone wants to carry out an audit on Followine's smart contract, they will be able to view the entire code and its functionalities at the following address - in full compliance with the principle of transparency, even before the ICO.

5.5 ICO timeline

The phases of our ICO have been marked taking into consideration both the ICO market trend and the organizational and strategic needs of our project:

In November 2018 the first Bounty campaign will start, together with the Airdrop Italy, with the aim of making the project known to the blockchain and ICO community. In the same month the Whitelist registration will also begin.

In December 2018 it will start our pre-ICO, during which 5 million tokens will be available for sale with 70% bonus.

In January 2019, the second Bounty campaign will come out, together with the international airdrop.

In February 2019 our DAICO will start and it will last for four weeks, with bonuses gradually decreasing.

Chart5.1

During the DAICO period, 130 million tokens will be available for sale and, after the fourth week, it will be possible to buy tokens without bonuses for a further 30 days. After this period, as stated in the Followine smart contract, it will not be possible to purchase Wine Coin anymore (the only way will be doing it through the exchanges, once listed).

The soft cap that must be reached so that we can continue the development of the project is one million euro, while the hard cap is set at twelve million euro. Chart5.2

In July 2019 the Followine platform will be launched, and the Community will be able to start offering exchanges of Wine Coin and other tokens.

In December 2019 we will proceed to the listing on exchange, which will be chosen after a careful analysis of those on the market, especially to guarantee security and reliability to our investors.

In July 2021, the release of the Wallet Followine for Sawtooth will be issued

When, in 2021, the Wine Coin ethereum recall (non sono sicura sia corretto, mi sono rifatta al ritiro di auto con difetti ma non so se tecnicamente è equiparabile) begins - after internal tests for the Sawtooth network and its safety - the wallet will be distributed to producers and partners. Then, the mining phase of the producers will begin for the operation of the network, which will work on a par with that one of ethereum. After the beta tests, we will distribute the wallet, which will be integrated with the new version of the Followine app, and we will start replacing the WineCoin Ethereum with the WineCoin Sawtooth.

How will this replacement take place?

Once the beta tests have been passed, all those who possess the Token will be called to activate the "BurnOut" function, to advance the next phase of the project: the replacement of the Wine Coin Ethereum with that of Sawtooth. This function will automatically burn all the Wine Coin Ethereum present in the Followine Wallet. At the same time, an equivalent quantity of Wine Coin Sawtooth will be released, and will merge into the miners pool in the new Sawtooth network.

All Wine Coins Ethereum that will return to Followine will be burned i and the equivalent amount of Wine Coin Sawtooth will be released.

In the event that someone still has a reserve in its wallet, he can autonomously provide for the replacement of the Wine Coin Ethereum, through a special feature present on the application.

In this way, the total quantity will never exceed the 250,000,000,000 WineCoins; and this in order not to affect the value on the exchanges and the internal market value of the circuit.

The support for the Ethereum network will not be discontinued until more than 10% of tokens are in circulation. After that time, all those still holding Ethereum tokens will be able to convert them into Sawtooth tokens, through the followine app.

Since, for now, many investments have not been devoted to Sawtooth - except a few tests to validate its effectiveness and efficiency - it is not excluded that, if important changes in Ethereum occur in the coming months, we could modify our plans and stay connected to the mother network.

5.6 Token Allocation

The token allocation has been studied to avoid the event of a dump when the Wine Coin will be listed. The distribution was divided into several phases and the first ones who have to adapt to the release plan, studied by the Finance and Risk Management team, were the members of the Followine Team and our Advisors. Chart 5.2

Among the strategies designed to avoid or minimize the risk of dump, in addition to the unavoidable risk assessment made by our analysts, we decided to distribute the tokens due to the team and the advisors gradually (see table)

This prediction confirms the good faith of those who work on the project and all the interest in that the value of our token is not a victim of market manipulations, which unfortunately are often found in the ICO world.

In addition - always in order to avoid or minimize the risk of dump - as written in the smart contract, the tokens distributed to investors, participants in the bounty and airdrop, will be released as a percentage of the amount purchased or received during the various phases of the project (without prejudice to the fact that the quantity of tokens will be transferred in full at the time of purchase, or according to the methods reported in the bounty).

Unlocking and timeline mode: Chart5.3

Quantità*

Giorni**

Buy Pre-ICO

30%

330

60%

540

100%

720

Buy ICO

30%

330

60%

480

100%

660

Bounty&Airdrop

50%

270

75%

420

100%

570

Advisor

40%

270

80%

630

100%

810

Team

20%

270

40%

600

70%

810

100%

1020

* By Quantity, we mean the percentage unlocked and usable with respect to the amount of tokens purchased or received by Followine. This percentage does not include the Tokens exchanged between the various users and those received through the scans.

** By Days, we mean the days passed from the date of deposit of the Tokens on your Wallet.

We want to say again that the rules are written in the Followine smart contract, that you can find on GitHub at this address: github.com/followine/daico

If the reasons for our choices are not clear you can contact the team via this email [email protected], obviously after checking the FAQ section of the followine.io website,

For any further doubt or enquiry raised by the community, it will be the CEO in person to give an answer and to insert it in the FAQ section.

Raising arguments that the team has not responded yet will also allow the community to receive a reward in Wine Coin, as recognition for the support given to the project; Wine Coins will be taken from the airdrop pool. Chart5.4

* Defrost Time refers to the timing of defrosting the tokens and the relative possibility of using them

We are sure that these forecasts and the precautions – taken to ensure the stability of the value of Wine Coin, on which the success of the project depends – will be appreciated by all those who decide to give us their support.

Unsold tokens

The token advanced from the sale will be placed in the pool dedicated to new companies that enter the Followine circuit, being added to those already existing for this purpose.

It would be impossible to burn the tokens because their number was not created by chance (by taking a reference standard), but it is linked to the value of the wine market. This is the first token actually limited in circulation. Usually it happens that those who burn unsold tokens believe that they give greater value to those sold, without considering that burning very small amounts of tokens, in practice, does not change the balance of a token listed (for the reasons we have clarified in point 5.2). Our goal is to create a circuit and, therefore, to distribute our tokens so that more people can use them for our services and those of our partners, it is in our opinion the best way to act.

In any case, our Risk Management department has studied a mechanism to protect the value of the token, if we had made an assessment error regarding the predictions on the wine market. As a matter of fact, however, we have inserted the "burn" function to cope with a market situation that is distinctly different from the one proposed by our studies; only then will it be possible to burn part of the token (unless a blockade made by investors, through the vote offered by the smart contract.

5.7 Funds Allocation

A project like Followine, that is focused on the consumer, can not be separated from an intense marketing activity. More consumers means greater efficiency and reliability of the whole system. To achieve our mission we need real talents to add to our team and this means higher costs for salaries. Our aim is to create an autonomous system thanks to the new algorithm in development and, in the future, thanks to a dedicated AI, which currently can not be implemented on Ethereum, due to the structure and the high costs of maintaining the network. This leads us to the development of a proprietary network and higher R & D costs. Chart 5.5

This is possible thanks to the TAP function, which allows Wine Coin owners to have full visibility and control over the project funds.

Through this function, in case the team is not respecting the Road map, it will be possible to modify or block the use of the funds, through a public vote.

In addition, given the long path that the project provides, we also decided to include the timing for the use of funds by the team, which will be defrosted by our wallet according to the following timelines and procedures